screamin' (green) bean casserole... gluten free!

So I learned something last year during Turkey day-- that my childhood feelings about brussell sprouts were totally en pointe. I hated them when I was tiny, and I hate them now. I thought that my love of all things cabbage-y, tart, and savory would lead me down the path to a love of them, but I should have trusted my 8 year old tastebuds. They taste terrible. For those of you with a penchant for these tiny, foul tasting veggies, I salute you.

So anyway, last year, after making this totally delicious dish that every one else adored and literally ate every last bit of, I made a pledge to myself... to remake it this Thanksgiving but to use a totally inoffensive veggie-- the infamous haricort vert/skinny green beans so I could eat the whole thing instead of trying to scrape the extra sauce from the bottom of the dish to slather on everything around.

I just finished prepping this and it's cooling on the counter as I type. I modified the classic Screaming Heads recipe... and, boy, it's TASTY. If you like prosciutto and garlic, watch out. I was thinking about just making the sauce as a coating for pasta... don't mind me slobbering over here...

screamin' (green) beans

2 lbs green beans (fresh or frozen)
4 or so oz of thinly sliced prosciutto (you will chiffonade this)
1 container of fresh crimini muchrooms (I like the smaller end of the mushroom size scale, here)*
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 roasted head of garlic (see step 1 below)
3 tablespoons all-purpose gluten free flour (I use Orgran)
1.5 cups heavy cream
1 cup half-and-half
.25 cup Sherry or White Wine Vinegar
1 cup grated parmesean + .5 cup for sprinkling over the casserole before baking
1 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated or ground)
1 tsp kosher salt
.5 tsp freshly ground pepper
.5 cup gluten free bread crumbs (I use Udi's and just put it in the food processor)

other thing you'll be needing: a casserole dish

1. Crank your oven up to 350 degrees. Take a whole head of garlic and chop off the top of the side that has the thin papery bits that taper... I sort of took a paring knife to gingerly cut off the tippy tops so I didn't lose any garlic. I love garlic and seeing the little pieces in the trash breaks my heart so I go FULL GARLIC. Lightly drizzle the top of the exposed garlic with olive oil, put it into a little foil tent, and let it get delicious in the oven for 45 minutes. You'll be adding this to the tastytown cream sauce you'll be cooking soon.

2. Make sure your oven is still at 350 degrees. Roll up the thinly sliced prosciutto and begin to chiffonade into thin pieces. I go thin since I like to have lots of little pieces throughout the casserole.

3. Heat your pan over medium heat, add the butter, and saute the prosciutto for about 2 minutes. Add the roasted garlic and green beans to the pot and let all the flavors mix together, about another 3 minutes.

4. Add the gluten free flour and give this a really good mix-- you're aiming to get that flour coating all of your green beans. Once you get this going (be sure you get it done fairly quickly so the flour doesn't burn), add in the heavy cream, half & half, and your acid (vinegar or sherry), and the mushrooms. Let this come up to a solid simmer-- I find that the gluten free flour tends to suck up any moisture so this could happen pretty quickly.

5. Stir in your nutmeg, salt, and pepper... and the CHEESE!

5.5. Marvel at your handiwork and transfer the deliciousness into the casserole dish you've set aside. Top it with the reserved half cup of cheese and bread crumbs, bake it, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

6. Serve immediately and enjoy.

* I like to pop out the stems, clean them off with a damp towel, and cut them in half since we have mixed feelings about mushrooms in our house... if they're halved, they're easier for the people I love to pick them out and put them on my plate so I can eat them. YUM. But really, cut them however you like.

PIZZA TIME!

Last night I tried my hand at the pizza dough made by the lovely and wonderful Shauna and Danny from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef. A couple of things first-- the flavor is great, the crust is chewy, and it is TASTY. I genuinely believe you should keep these 3 key things in mind if you decide to embark on a gluten free pizza making adventure. Another thing to keep in mind is that gluten free pizza dough does tend to be a bit sticky-- it is better to go into this baking adventure NOT expecting it to behave like a wheat based dough (remind yourself as you work!) despite your mind veering into the "I need to add more flour/use less water next time" train of thought you may find yourself mentally meandering through.

While I do have their fantastic cookbook where this recipe comes from, Shauna and Danny were generous enough to share their gluten free pizza dough recipe with Michael Ruhlman on his blog so you can taste test one of the many (and really, there are many) fantastic recipes these two have created.

The lead-in to the recipe will probably also make those of you living with celiac and gluten sensitivity a case of the chuckles... sometimes it's just funny to read about other people who are in the same boat. Anyway, enough blathering from me-- go check out the recipe here.

In terms of our experience with this dough, we rolled it out between two layers of waxed paper but I have read that other people have had more success rolling this out between layers of saran wrap. Next time we do this, we're going to try shaping the crust on parchment paper that we can put directly onto the pizza stone. We tried a couple of different ways to flip the dough onto our pizza stone and wound up with two pizzas with lots of... character. Another tip from Shauna and Danny is to let the dough hang out in the fridge overnight to help further develop some extra flavor. While we were both totally tickled with the flavor on the crust, we figure it's worth a shot! Also, this is critical, be sure to do a prebake on your crust-- it's a pretty important step in making a chewy and well cooked crust.

YUM.

a new fixation: wheat and gluten in shampoo, conditioner, lip balm, hair goop... all of it.

I've been on something I can only call a beauty product making rampage recently. I did some quick copywriting work for a beauty products company that is totally fantastic (and vegan!) and I got real hung up on the ingredients. Don't get me wrong-- this company has an absolutely outstanding ingredient list, but lots of their products contain hydrolyzed wheat proteins in them. While I was writing out the directions for use, I made a mental note to check out the ingredients in the shampoos, conditioners, and body wash in the house later. Boy, was I bummed out.

I've been pretty vigilant about makeup and lip goop especially, but never thought to investigate everything else (duh on me!). Anyway, what I turned up was that nearly every single thing in the shower had wheat in it. Smack dab in the middle of the Bumble and Bumble Quenching shampoo was Hydrolyzed wheat starch. BLERGH! Imagine forking over 28 bucks for some liquid gluten that winds up all over your face and body when you rinse. And then imagine, following that up with the conditioner, that contains not only wheat germ extract, but also barley extract, hydrolyzed wheat protein, and hydrolyzed wheat starch as the 4th, 5th, 6th, AND 7th ingredient. DOUBLE BLERGH!

Anyway, I've settled into using the totally great Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle and Rose shampoo (no wheat! gluten free!) but have yet to find a great conditioner that doesn't use wheat in it. Tips, anyone?

So, back to my new obsession-- lip balm. Since the weather started turning (for a brief moment there, since yesterday we hit 90 degrees?) my lips have been getting VERY dry and chapped. In my hunt for a good gluten free lip balm that wasn't going to set me back too much, I started thinking about making my own-- and I did it. I'm super tickled with how it all came out... I absolutely adore all things honey related (due to a serious bee obsession) so the lip balm I've made uses local Santa Barbara honey, beeswax (sadly, not local-- yet!), lanolin, sweet almond oil, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and right now, organic orange essential oil. It's smooth and wonderful-- not too thick, not too shiny... it's just right. Anyway, I've got it for sale in my Etsy shop-- Charles Vintage-- if you want to take a gander and maybe buy one.

the trouble with food allergies and sensitivities... being gluten free in santa barbara

When I first went gluten free, I struggled with the idea of losing my favorite foods and the satisfaction that went along with eating them... the donuts, pasta, and assorted sweets I tend to obsess over here on this blog every so often especially. I didn't fully realize how it would affect me socially. I was raised in a food-centric Mexican household where sharing a meal and cooking were inextricably linked to family and love-- we always gathered around the table to eat and talk... always.

Now that I'm older, the convenience of ordering up a pizza in 20 minutes or less, dropping into a restaurant during road trips, the absentminded food grazing at parties, the family get-togethers... all of my social 'food freedom' ended in a snap. Sure, I went through a period when I would have some pizza because I missed it so much (terrible, I know) and suffered the consequences immediately and for two weeks after... but it's the commitment my GF diet requires that sometimes has me daydreaming of a stomach that can handle gluten... if only to have an unguarded experience with food out in public. To talk about a recent party experience that involved platters of crazy deliciousness from C'est Cheese where the wheat crackers were spread around chunks of cheesy goodness and knives that had been used to spread the soft cheese on wheat causes me great pain-- it was like food hell... you can look and smell but can't eat it. BLERGH! Side note: GO TO C'EST CHEESE! It's cheese heaven... don't even get me started on the Burrata.

While my health has improved infinitely since I cut gluten out, I do miss the freedom of wandering into a restaurant and ordering anything off the menu without fear of the repercussions. There are some restaurants here in town that I have never had a problem with, but there have been some that are hit and miss, and some I just avoid like the plague-- even refusing to go for the "I'll have the salad" route... yikes.

Anyway, enough of my rant... and onto my gluten free chicken noodle soup.

a donut fail is the saddest fail.

I was going to take a picture of the dough I made from Donuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to make at Home but I wound up so impressed by how far OFF from any sort of dough (gluten free or otherwise) that I resisted recording it for eternity. If I was being forced to comment on it, I would have to say the only thing it was good for was sticking to my hands and not coming off until I busted out the dish scrubber.

I'm not sure exactly where I messed up (could have been in all the liquids I was mixing? the humidity here in town?) but the sticky round blobs that wound up in the frying oil did come out fairly tasty-- at least the small pieces that I cooked all the way through... most of them, well... they weren't cooked in the middle.

It was sort of a production to make them... lots of waiting (which requires patience that I lack when donuts are involved) for yeast to do its magic, reserving of this, 110 degrees that, blahdeblooh. And now, I have nothing to show for it. I can tell you this much... if you aren't patient, this recipe might make you a little frustrated.


I'm going to try again and give a full recap. Maybe if I document the process I'll be less likely to mess it up. Hmm.

DONUT ALERT! DONUT ALERT!

It has just come to my attention that there are some new cookbooks out there... and one is devoted exclusively to my first food love-- donuts*. As I've mentioned before, the loss of donuts in my life is akin to some people's feelings about the loss of Sassy magazine (when Jane Pratt was still the editor)-- a mix of longing, regret, and misguided optimism that maybe, maybe, it would be resurrected.

The book is called Doughnuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home

I just did a quick preview on Amazon (love that feature) and it sounds like you pick your dough type and then select glazes and potentially donut flavors-- albeit I imagine there is some tinkering that will need to happen to adjust to gluten free. I just ordered a copy
and a donut cutterand I'm going to test these babies out this weekend.

To say I'm excited is an understatement. I'm quickly approaching a frenzied manic state-- I'm already thinking about maple glazes... sprinkles, bear claws, eating too much, and then the inevitable stomachache. YES!

* is it donuts or doughnuts? Am I like Homer Simpson that I spell it donut? Please advise.

dancing in the kitchen with gluten-free girl and the chef, part 2

MARCONA ALMONDS!

GARLIC!

SHRIMP!


This one is deceptively simple (very quick to prep and simple ingredients)... but so flavorful. I think this dish took about 15 minutes start to finish (including deveining the shrimp!). While I was chewing the last piece I was thinking of all the things I could ladle the sauce over-- fish, some meat, vegetables, a spoon so I could eat it like peanut butter. Yum.

This recipe is also featured in the new cookbook, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef.

You really need to check this book out.

dancing in the kitchen with gluten-free girl and the chef, part 1

I had the pleasure of trying a couple of recipes from a new gluten free cookbook-- Gluten Free Girl and the Chef.
One word: WOW. While I totally messed up one of the recipes (peanut butter brownies that I somehow turned into a fluffy chocolate cake/brownie) and I sniffled over that, I made two others that, wow.

Two things first...


FIRST. Back in the day, when I was still eating gluten, I had a pasta machine that I was in love with. Amongst the many things I had to give away and forget about, that one was one of the most painful (donuts remain the first). Sure, there are now seemingly endless dry gluten free pasta options out there that are fantastic, but those of you that know the joys that are fresh pasta, well, I'm sure you shed a few tearlets into your bowls of pasta while you wonder what your slow sauteed onion cream sauce would be like with some fresh fettucini. Maybe I'm alone in this. Anyhow...

SECOND. I have gone my whole life deliberately avoiding sardines and anchovies, for reasons that are totally mystifying now. I would shudder when I saw them on menus, ask foodie friends if they seriously enjoyed eating them and why WHY!?, and wondered why someone would ever want to buy a tin of sardines (my brother, ahem). Now I'm reading up on the differences between sardines, anchovies, and boquerónes... and I'm hunting down some brands so I can try cooking with these MORE.

SECOND AND A HALF. I kinda hate olives. Again, not sure why, I just do. This recipe calls for olives (and I grabbed the wrong can--green-- at the store and didn't realize it until I was chopping these up) and now I'm warming up the idea of olives. Really!


So anyway, onto this recipe. If you want to blow your own mind, do yourself a favor and buy this cookbook if only for these two recipes: gluten free pasta dough and fresh pasta with anchovies, lemons, and olives. Even if you don't think anchovies are for you, that olives are too peculiar, or that capers are too tart.

Take it from this former anchovy hating, olive rejecting lady... you will not want to stop eating this.

The pasta dough was literally out of this world. As I mentioned before, I am without a pasta making machine, hence the hand cut noodles... but this is making me think I need to buy this
attachment for our KitchenAid. The noodles themselves cooked up in under 5 minutes (and floated up to the top like any fresh pasta should when it's done) and were perfectly chewy and made me swoon. I'm not kidding. Going 7 years without fresh pasta will do that to you. Even my non-gf husband was floored. This recipe is a winner.


The pasta sauce... wow. While I was prepping the ingredients, I was shaking my head, thinking, why in the world am I chopping olives and sardines? If you know me, you'd be wondering this, too. As I started sauteeing and mixing in the pan, this WONDERFUL smell started to take over the house, and I was thinking, maybe I'll just try to eat it. Once I got through the recipe and started tossing the fresh pasta with the sauce, it was over. I had to try it immediately. I couldn't even really handle NOT eating it while my husband took the pictures. Just writing about this now is making me hungry. The sauce is fresh tasting and unlike anything I've ever eaten before... light, flavorful, and heavenly. Literally.

check out more pictures here. BUY the cookbook here.


Next up... seared shrimp with garlic almond sauce. stay tuned.

Chex Honey Nut cereal... now gluten free!

I forgot how delicious Chex cereal is... and now they have started making a version of their super tasty Chex cereal in a honey nut flavor. And can I tell you, this stuff is TASTY! It reminds me of Cheerios, only more crunchy and gluten free. It's just sweet enough (especially with almond milk) and has a surprising amount of vitamins in it: 50% of your recommended daily Iron and Folic Acid, 25% of your daily recommended Vitamin B6 and B12, and lots more you can check out here.

If you miss being able to eat Honey Nut Cheerios because you're gluten free, try this.

I do have to bookend this post with a warning... I have read online that there are some stores that are also carrying an older version of this cereal that is not gluten free. Be sure when you pick up your box that it is clearly marked on the front of the box that it is gluten free (like the picture here) otherwise you may wind up glutening yourself!


Available locally at Alberton's on Calle Real and online here!

chocolate ganache frosting... on vanilla cupcakes

I just made these cupcakes last night... I used the Pamela's Classic Vanilla cake mix and topped them off with a recipe I pulled from Epicurious.

Yum.

I didn't realize how simple it is to make a ganache (or at least the recipe I pulled!). I got a food scale for Christmas so I'm starting to put recipes together this way... it's much more precise so I feel like I'm less likely to screw up.

to make the ganache you'll need:
12 oz of heavy cream
454 grams of chocolate (dark or semi-sweet, or really, whatever you like!)

1. in a heavy saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil.
2. once it boils, turn the burner off and add the chocolate to the mix and allow the chocolate to rest... it will start to melt pretty quickly.
3. use a rubber spatula to gently stir the mixture together until it gets smooth (keep the burner OFF!)
4. Once smooth, transfer to a room temperature bowl and cover with Saran wrap and put the bowl in the fridge to chill. Once it takes on the consistency of a a thick, thick peanut butter, spread on your cupcakes (or cakes... or face, whatever you like.)


I used Schokinag Chocolate Chunks for this... it's my favorite chocolate chip for baking just about anything.

This is the food scale I use: I love it! Just be sure to zero the scale once you put your bowl or whatever you are using the weight the foodstuffs...

oooooooh UDI'S!

During a recent trip to Kansas, I came across a new brand of gluten free bread that is the closest thing I can remember to actual white bread... it comes from a bakery out of Boulder, CO called Udi's.

I think I'm in love.

It's soft, spongy, and LIGHT! Nothing like those heavy (ahem Food For Life ahem) rice breads I've been picking up at Trader Joe's for the last few years.

The Udi's white sandwich bread is a revelation... while I was perusing the aisles of Whole Foods in Kansas, I figured I would give the Udi's gluten free loaf a squeeze (I'm one of those people...) and I couldn't believe it. I kept squeezing the loaf over and over (I did buy the one I was squeezing!) because it felt like the white bread I remembered eating all those years ago.

I have been eating the bread right out of the bag and toasted... it's delicious both ways. Now that I'm sitting here writing about it, I'm thinking about going and grabbing a slice.

I thought I wouldn't be able to find this aside from being able to order online, but I found it on Monday at Lassen's in Goleta in the frozen section. I would suggest once you buy it frozen, that you leave it out so it can soften up. If you leave it in the refrigerator, it'll wind up tough. You can also buy it direct from Udi's here.

I'm going to head back and pick up some of the other Udi's items at Lassen's soon... I see they also make a cinnamon roll I'm going to see if they can order for me!